HMM: Trump’s $54 billion defense budget increase isn’t what it seems. And Congress is mad.

The Trump administration billed the $603 billion budget as an increase of 10 percent or $54 billion, but that number is only in comparison to sequestration levels of $549 billion. Sequestration has not been triggered since 2013. President Obama’s 2017 budget request and 2018 plans both went over the sequestration limits and put the onus on Congress to pass a budget deal to avoid the cuts.

“The new administration claiming a 10 percent increase that’s really a 3 percent increase is fake budgeting,” said House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee Chairman Mike Turner. “Our military’s readiness has suffered immensely over the past 8 years due to stringent budget cuts. It is imperative we can make a real attempt to reverse dangerous trends in defense spending.”

Of course, getting a handle on how the Pentagon spends is just as important as how much the Pentagon spends.